Councillor Dallas Tout has been re-elected as Wagga Wagga Mayor for the third time, scoring a 7-2 vote win over Councillor and former Deputy Mayor, Amelia Parkins.
Mayor Tout was first elected to the Council in 2012 and served as Deputy Mayor for seven years from 2014, before being elected Mayor in 2022.
He joins fellow incumbents Tim Koschel, Georgie Davies, Richard Foley and Jenny McKinnon, along with first-term councillors Allana Condron, Karissa Subedi and Lindsay Tanner.
Council General Manager, Peter Thompson congratulated the newly-elected Council, saying he looked forward to working with the councillors over the next four years.
“Both newly elected and re-elected councillors will undertake a comprehensive induction program in coming weeks to ensure they are ready to fulfill their roles,” Mr Thompson said.
“This will include providing the councillors with an overview of the structure and operations of Council, as well as the legislative context and obligations associated with their roles.”
Mr Thompson said there were several major projects currently underway and in the planning stages which will come to fruition during the new Council’s four-year term.
Council is also developing a number of key strategies and masterplans focusing on housing, our CBD and future growth areas for the city, he said.
“We are in the process of developing a new Community Strategic Plan (CSP), which will provide direction and focus for all future plans for the City of Wagga Wagga over the coming 20 to 25 years,” Mr Thompson said.
“The data gathered through extensive community consultation over the past seven months is being analysed at the moment and that input will be used to identify the long-term vision, aspirations and main priorities for our local government area.
“The draft CSP, to be known as Wagga Wagga 2050, will be presented to the new Council for consideration in the next few months before being placed on public exhibition for further community feedback.”
Mr Thompson thanked the previous councillors for their service to the community over the past term.
The first Ordinary Council Meeting for the newly elected councillors was held yesterday.